Outcast
by Sal1705
Summary: Remus Lupin has always been an outcast to the wizarding community, left to fend or himself after his parents were murdered. He had long given up searching for love, always asking the same question: Can anyone love an outcast?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** If I was JK Rowling then Dobby, Lupin and Tonks wouldn't be dead, would they?

**Chapter One.**

The name that has been running through my head since 1973 – _Nymphadora _– was still haunting me,but in a different way. This was more… pleasant.

'Andromeda is pregnant!' announced Sirius. There was excited squealing from the girls, who were sitting around the fire with the infamous Marauders. 'Shit, girls. Not so bloody loud. It's like the Hogwarts Express Disaster all over again.' The girls exchanged puzzled looks but soon realised this would have been some stupid prank gone wrong.

'And what exactly was the 'Hogwarts Express Disaster'?' asked Lily.

'Well, we, James and I, that is, were aiming a curse at Snivel – Severus,' he corrected himself after receiving a glare from Lily, 'to make his voice all high pitch and girly but… it kinda hit the train instead. Damn that train was loud.' Sirius turned to hit Remus who had made a comment about no one else even hearing it. Although, he did make a good point. The whistle was so high pitch that human ears couldn't pick it up but having a dog as his Animagus heightened his senses even as a human so his ears were more sensitive.

'Is it a boy or girl?' Alice asked excitedly. Her blue eyes were shining in the light and she laughed softly as Frank played with her hair.

_What is she talking about? _'Um?' _The baby, you dolt! _'Oh, she isn't sure yet. The baby isn't very old so they couldn't tell yet.' Sirius looked over to Remus as he mumbled something else under his breath. He was becoming increasingly irritable due to the upcoming full moon, which was tomorrow night, and, luckily, a Friday night. Therefore, the other boys, who accompanied him during the full moon, could sleep during the next day.

'I'm going to go to bed,' Alice got up, stretched, kissed Frank on the cheek and started towards the Portrait Hole. She paused for a moment, 'Oh, and Sirius. Keep me posted on the baby news, okay?' Sirius nodded to show he was listening. After a minute Lily, too, said her 'goodnights' and 'goodbyes' and disappeared into the girls' dorm. Soon after Lily left James, Peter, Frank and Sirius decided to go to bed, leaving Remus all alone in front of the crackling fire. He shivered unintentionally as he thought about the following night's transformation.

'It's a girl,' Sirius announced to the group, who had been receiving weekly updates on the baby, 'they've named her Nymphadora.' Lily squealed excitedly and did a rather odd jumping, dancing… thing. 'Andromeda has invited you all to see her and Nymphadora baby at the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade weekend.' As if right on time, a first year came with a notice from Professor McGonagall about the next Hogsmeade weekend. 'But please, no squealing.' He said with a pointed look at Lily and Alice although, he didn't doubt that Peter joined in on the squealing every now and then. It had been two years since Andromeda and Ted left Hogwarts so the girls were very excited to be meeting up with them again. Although, Lily, Alice and Andromeda kept in touch through letters, it was not the same.

The next Hogsmeade weekend came so quickly, with much squealing, and the boys thought they would be deaf by tomorrow. The group of excited 5th Years decided to stay at school until it was time to meet with Andromeda, and then they would go through the Honeydukes passage into Hogsmeade. Hours rolled by quickly and it was soon time to leave, and with a lot of shoving, everyone got into the tunnel safely. Sirius hopped out of the tunnel to check if it was all clear to go into the shop.

Soon enough the eight teens were hurrying through the streets of Hogsmeade, towards the Three Broomsticks. They were all moving so quickly, they forgot to open the door and they ended up with a very sore, very squished Sirius. Once safely inside the teens looked around for the familiar brown hair they had all grown to know during their time at Hogwarts. It seemed that they were early as Andromeda was nowhere in sight so they hurried to a large table for ten.

There was a familiar tinkle as the door opened and Ted Tonks stepped inside, Andromeda following cradling a sleeping Nymphadora – whose hair had changed from brown to platinum blonde, to orange, to green and back to brown in the space of twenty seconds - in her arms. Lily and Alice squealed and ran up to greet the couple, waking Nymphadora –whose hair had now turned the same shade of orange as Lily's – in the process.

Andromeda and Ted came and joined the table, Lily and Alice trailing behind. All the boys greeted the couple happily and Remus mumbled a 'hi'. However, he could not take his eyes of Nymphadora, again, sleeping peacefully in her mothers' arms. Her hair had, again, changed colour and was now a beautiful brown, the same shade as her mothers.

The next few hours passed quickly and it was soon time for the teens to return to Hogwarts, deciding that they would catch up again sometime soon instead of risking a detention.

After arriving back at the school, the girls sorted through the photos they had taken and discussed whom Nymphadora looked more like; her mother or father, and the boys lounged around the fire in the Gryffindor common room, discussing the latest Quidditch news they had talked over with Ted. The boys' conversation was soon interrupted with James remembering that he had Quidditch training scheduled now, which would be a disaster if the captain did not show up. He ran to the dorms, grabbed Frank by the arm, ran back down the stairs, hit Sirius over the head for letting him forget, and ran out of the common room, Frank and Sirius in tow.

A/N: Hello my dearest readers, this story is dedicated to _taylah _(on a different site.) who asked me to write a Lupin/Tonks story so yeah… I promise that I will make the chapters longer in the near (next chapter) future! Oh yeah, it jumps around a lot to random memories of Remus/Tonks…

Read & Review.

Sal1705


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Over the year, the Marauders had grown from young, immature boys to immature men. Although with James' role as Head Boy, they had matured… slightly, and earned him a place in the heart of Lily Evans. Over the holidays Remus, James and Sirius constantly visited and baby-sat Nymphadora. The bond between Nymphadora and Remus was constantly growing stronger and he was chosen as the outright favourite. Most of the time the boys spent hours trying to explain to Nymphadora who Peter was but, as she had not met him, she thought he was not real.

Nymphadora was only two at this time but was definitely speeding ahead of the other children. She was incredibly smart, like a miniature Lily Evans but she still refused to call James by his real name. Lily was constantly visiting with the Marauders as she now lived with James - her sister making life at her house unbearable after the murder f her parents - and Nymphadora had taken a liking to Lily and spent as much time with her as she did Remus.

On a cool autumn night, two years after he had graduated from Hogwarts, a disheveled looking man with sandy blonde hair walked towards the door of the Tonks house with a large, shaggy black dog whimpering sadly behind him.

The familiar _Star Wars_ tune almost brought a smile to the man face but he was again reminded of the grief that was sure to follow him through the next few years. 'Remus! How lovely to see you. Sirius, you mangy mutt, get inside before anyone sees you –' she looked Remus up and down, 'what's wrong, why the gloomy faces? Not another attack was it?' Remus gulped and then nodded gloomily. 'Come inside, I'll put the kettle on.'

Once inside, Sirius changed back to his human form and shuffled behind Remus into the lounge. They sat on the couch in silence for a moment until Andromeda walked in with three steaming hot cups of tea. The boys each took theirs with a forced smile. Andromeda sat down and politely waited for the boys to start talking. 'My parents – ' Remus' bottom lip quivered and he hid his head in his hands.

'Remmy!' Nymphadora ran into the room and launched herself into Remus' arms. He gave her a watery smile and hugged her back.

'Not now, sweetie. We need some time to talk.'

'No no, it's alright. She can stay.' Remus gave another watery smile in Dora's direction and let a single tear slide down his cheek. _Deep breaths. _Remus composed himself and started his story.

'My parents, they were at home, Sirius and I,' he gestured to Sirius who was sitting next to him on the couch, 'were in London. Looking through the muggle clothes. We were only gone for an hour or two. Then when we got –' Remus took a deep shuddering breath. 'When we got back to my house they were there and my parents were…' He was unable to finish his story and started sobbing, Dora hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. She could tell something was wrong because Remus was usually a very happy person. Sirius looked mortified that Remus had finally broken, not once in the nine… or maybe it was eight, years he had known him he had never cried. The whole way to Andromeda's house he had not said a word but did nothing to show his sadness, only anger. Silently vowing revenge on the Death Eaters. Andromeda moved over to the couch to give Remus a hug. He finally composed himself.

The four sat there in silence for a while until Dora started snoring lightly so Andromeda took her to bed. When she returned she waited at the bottom of the stairs. She knew she shouldn't eaves drop but listened in on their conversation anyway.

'It _is_ my fault, Sirius. –' Sirius started to protest but Remus held his ground. 'If I was there they would have taken me and spared my parents. If I weren't bitten in the first place my parents wouldn't be dead! It's all my fault, you know it is.'

'Moony, come on. You know it isn't, they would've given their lives for you any -'

'Yes, but that's different. I _wouldn't_ have let them die for me. I could have saved their lives just by joining Voldemort in the first place. None of this would have happened.'

'You can't blame yourself, if you had joined Voldemort your parents would have been worse off. If you defied him, he would have been after your parents and probably Andromeda, Nymphadora, Ted, James, Pete, Lily and me as well. You know your parents would have disowned you if you joined him. You did what was for the best.'

'_For the bes_t?' Remus' voice was growing louder with every word. 'How was this for the best, Sirius? You may not be a part of your family but at least you still have them. My relatives don't talk to me, they hated my family because of me. My parents were shunned by the wizard community because of me. My parents had no friends because of me and _you_ are saying this is for the best? If I had joined Voldemort I would have been out of their lives forever, they could have friends, family, a life. For Merlin's sake Sirius, can't you get that through your mind? It _is_ all my fault.'

'Calm down, Moony. The whole neighbourhood has probably heard you by now,' he heard crying coming from upstairs and the thud of feet, 'And you've woken Dora up.' Remus mumbled something about going for a walk and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Andromeda came downstairs with Nymphadora and sat on the couch with Sirius. 'Remus is a werewolf?' Sirius was amazed that she didn't know before this.

'Yeah, I thought you already knew.'

'Well, I had a suspicion but he never said anything.' Sirius started to say something but Andromeda cut in. 'Don't worry, I won't tell Ted. He's slightly prejudice about werewolves, believes they should have stronger anti-werewolf laws, load of rubbish, that it. But Remus is such a nice guy, I know I can still trust you guys to baby sit, right?' Sirius nodded.

'Mummy, where's Remmy?' Nymphadora yawned and looked around the room.

'He just went for a walk, sweetie. Don't worry, he'll be back soon.' Dora had a look of concentration on her face.

'Sad Remmy?' she asked and then frowned.

'Yes, sad Remmy. The bad people hurt his family so now he's sad.' Nymphadora burst into tears. 'What's wrong, Dora?' Dora sniffled.

'Remmy sad.' Sirius and Andromeda smiled, despite the situation they were in. Nymphadora cared so much about Remus that she couldn't bare to see him sad, amazing, really. Dora soon stopped sniffling and crawled across the couch to where Sirius was sitting. 'Siri sad too?' Sirius nodded and Nymphadora gave him a hug. 'Twirly?' Sirius stood up and picked Dora up and span her around a couple of times until Remus came striding through the door, a forced smile on his face.

'Dora! How's my favourite girl?' Dora ran up and gave him a hug.

'Remmy sad?' Remus shook his head and, somewhat forcibly, laughed. He picked Dora up and hugged her.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the summer before seventh and Remus, Sirius and James were all heading to Andromeda's house to baby sit Nymphadora

**Chapter Two**

It was the summer before seventh and Remus, Sirius and James were all heading to Andromeda's house to baby sit Nymphadora. She liked biting, scratching, kicking, throwing and eating things, unfortunately for the boys, that included them.

The trio walked up to the door and rang the doorbell that sounded to a muggle song from a move called _Star Wars. _There was the soft _pitter, patter _of little feet thudding down the hall. The door opened and Andromeda welcomed them in, little Nymphadora hugging her leg. 'Remmy!' Nymphadora let go of Andromeda's leg and ran to Remus who picked her up and twirled her in a circle, he then put her down on the floor and ran to Sirius. 'Siwwy! Twirly!' Sirius, too, picked her up and twirled her in a circle. Before he put her on the floor, he kissed her on the head and then put her down. She looked up at James and giggled. 'Hawwy!' She giggled again and Remus, Sirius and Andromeda snickered. Harry was Nymphadora's nickname for James as she only remembered James by his hair, which looked amazingly like Andromeda's friend, Harold's, hair. James picked Nymphadora up and gave her a cuddle. He tickled her stomach and she squealed and laughed.

'Well, I'd better go now. Ted left about 10 minutes before you came. I'll only be a few hours, Dora will have a nap some time soon, if I take any longer just put her to bed and lock up for me. Okay? Oh, and help yourself to whatever is in the fridge.' The boys nodded and Nymphadora giggled.

'Bye bye mummy!' she waved to her mum, hitting James in the face and knocking his glasses to the floor. Remus closed the door as James put Nymphadora down, picked up his glasses and placed them back on his nose. Nymphadora ran to Remus and attached herself to his leg. She refused to let go so Remus walked into the kitchen with her attached to his leg, Nymphadora screamed with delight the whole way there. James and Sirius followed behind. Both moving to inspect the fridge.

''Any chance of you letting go of my leg, Dora?' No luck, she shook her head. 'Not even if I give some of this yummy chocolate I have in my pocket?' she looked at him expectantly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar. She let go of his leg and reached for the chocolate, realising she could not reach she decided to bite him. 'Ow!' Remus dropped the chocolate when Dora bit him and she giggled and waddled into the lounge. James and Sirius' jaws dropped. Remus would never willingly give up his chocolate for _them._

The boys followed Nymphadora into the lounge to find her biting the coffee table. Sirius turned to James and said, 'Wouldn't that hurt?'

'Nah, I used to do that all the time.' The both turned to look at Remus. 'What? I liked biting things…' The boys both gave him skeptical looks and turned their attention to prying Nymphadora off the table.

'You guys hungry?' No answer. 'I'm gonna go make something to eat.'

Half an hour later James and Sirius, who was carrying Nymphadora, entered the kitchen, following the scent of Spaghetti Bolognese that was wafting from the stove. 'How the hell did you learn to cook muggle food?' asked James.

'I used to help my parents cook dinner every summer. It isn't all that hard.' James scoffed. "Honestly, it isn't hard. You're just lazy.' Nymphadora squirmed in Sirius' arms so he put her down. She started walking around in circles, giggling. 'And you,' he turned to Dora, 'are just crazy.' She paused for a second, looked up at him and smiled, and then went back to her circular walking pattern. 'You hungry Dora?' She, again, stopped walking in circles and looked at Remus, this time nodding. He served up a small bowl of spaghetti and gave it to Sirius who put Nymphadora in her high chair and put the bowl in front of her. Dora grabbed it immediately and started eating. While she her hair changed from her mothers' brown hair to black hair that resembled that of her aunty, Bellatrix. While Dora was busy, eating her food, the boys sat down with theirs and discussed the year ahead.

'Have you heard about those Death Eaters?' Sirius asked, 'I read in the Daily Prophet yesterday that the parents of a muggle-born 7th Year student at Hogwarts was murdered. I hope it isn't anyone we know.'

'Hmm, we should make a list of all the muggle borns we know… then we'll at least be able to comfort them if we see them.' James and Sirius nodded in agreement as spaghetti flew past James' head. 'You had enough food there, Dora?' she nodded. 'I think it's time you have a nap, Dora.' He got up, lifted Nymphadora out of her high chair and carried her upstairs into her bedroom. He lay Dora down in her cot and pulled the small blanket over her, deciding this would not be warm enough he went into the hall to grab another blanked. Upon returning, he was amazed to see that Dora was already asleep. He set the blanket gently over her, slid the railings up on her cot and walked back down the stair to clean the mess in the kitchen.

'Sirius, could you go grab some parchment and a quill from the study?' Remus instructed as he cleaned Dora's highchair, that table and the walls that had spaghetti on them. Sirius returned from the study and the boys sat down at the table. After and hour and a half - the boys really didn't make much of an effort to meet new people, making it hard to create a list of muggle borns - they had seven names on the list which was written in a neat scrawl.

_**Muggle-Borns:**_

_Jeremy Garret_

_Lily Evans_

_Allan Bass_

_Jamie Smith_

_Hannah Fanning_

_Mary Fanning_

_Cameron Fanning_

'Well, we won't see much of them. Only Cameron and Lily are in Gryffindor. I hope it wasn't Lily's family though.' Said Remus thoughtfully. Suddenly Sirius raced upstairs, fearing for the worst, the boys followed him. Luckily, it was only that Sirius had heard Nymphadora crying. He cradled her in his arms and stroked her hair soothingly; she soon calmed down when she saw Remus leaning against the doorframe.

'Remmy!' she reached out for him; he laughed and walked over to take Nymphadora from Sirius. There was a look he could not read on Sirius' face. It looked almost as if he was jealous of the bond between Remus and Nymphadora. Whether it was because Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora were the only part of his family that accepted him, or that he felt he should have a stronger bond with Nymphadora, he envied Remus. He twirled Dora around a few times before he decided to take her downstairs. Sirius and James followed but instead of following him through to the kitchen, went to the lounge to watch the Tonks' muggle TV. Remus filled up a bottle of cold milk for Dora and gave it to her; she giggled happily and waddled off to the lounge, joining James and Sirius on the couch.

The familiar Star Wars tune rang through out the house and Nymphadora _pitter-pattered_ her way to the door. Remus picked her up and opened the door. 'Mummy!' Andromeda reached out to take her daughter from Remus. 'Thanks for baby-sitting, here's your pay.' Remus looked confused.

'I didn't know we were being paid, I can't accept this money. I was quite happy to baby sit anyway and I'm sure James and Sirius had a great time too.' Andromeda thrust the money into Remus' hand and ushered him out the door, bustling through the hall with James and Sirius and giving them their pay as well. 'Thank you, boys.'

'Well, another job well done by James Potter himself.' Sirius glared menacingly at James. 'And Moony and Padfoot.'


End file.
